Tuesday, April 14, 2015

What's the point?

Raymond Keene, the English grandmaster and long-time Times chess columnist, tweeted yesterday when the Dubai story broke: “What’s the point of cheating at chess? The thrill of the game is mental stimulation. It must be exhausting having to pretend all the time.”

Leaving aside the amusing irony of RDK's rather loathsome comment, it also grates by its sheer nastiness and stupidity. We all know the point of struggling East European pros cheating at chess - they don't play for mental stimulation, but to pay the rent. We aren't all born to well-off parents in one of the world's richest countries.